An Australian radio station says it has proof that it sought permission to
broadcast a hoax call which led to the suicide of a nurse at a hospital
caring for the Duchess of Cambridge.

2DayFM will present phone records at next week’s inquest into the death of Jacintha Saldanha which it says prove that four calls were made to the King Edward VII Hospital in London after the initial prank call.

The hospital has previously said it has no record of the calls being made, and one theory likely to be tested at the inquest is whether Mrs Saldanha answered all of the calls but did not tell anyone about them.

The mother-of-one was found dead in her room at the hospital’s accommodation block two days after 2DayFM aired the call, in which two DJs pretended to be the Queen and the Prince of Wales and duped the nurse into putting their call through to a nurse on the ward treating the Duchess for pregnancy sickness.

She left three notes, two of which are understood to deal with administrative matters, and a third in which she said the DJs, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, should pay her mortgage after her death.

Addressed to the hospital’s matron, its chief executive John Lofthouse and a third member of staff, it said: “Please accept my apologies, I am truly sorry. Thank you for all your support. I hold the Radio Australians Mel Greig and Michael Christian responsible for their act. Please make them pay my mortgage. I am sorry, Jacintha.”

In the days that followed the 46-year-old’s death, the issue of whether the radio station had attempted to warn the hospital it was intending to broadcast the call was fiercely contested between the two sides.

The broadcaster says it repeatedly called, but does not know who answered the phone.

A spokesman for 2DayFM said: “We can confirm that four follow-up calls were made to seek permission to air the call within an hour of the [hoax] call being made.

“Telstra [the phone provider] has verified the calls as coming from our Sydney studio and all being received at the same number in London.

“Because the calls were placed overseas, there was some debate about whether permission was needed. After the fourth call, we were advised internally we didn’t need permission because [Mrs Saldanha] was not a resident of Australia.”